THE DIVINE TRINITY BEING
THE MODEL OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE
Because man is a tripartite being—having a body, a soul, and a spirit—he may be considered as a "human trinity." Unlike the divine Trinity, within the "human trinity" there is always fighting. The Bible says that the flesh, our body, lusts or fights against our spirit which is mingled with the divine Spirit (Gal. 5:17). Our flesh also fights with our mind (Rom. 7:23). The flesh fights against the logical soul which desires to do the right thing. The soul desires to do good, but the flesh does not allow it. Whenever our soul desires to do good, the sin in our evil flesh rises up to fight against our soul (vv. 18-21). We also have the Lord Jesus within us, dwelling in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). This causes us further trouble because He says "no" to the flesh, and most of the time He says "no" to the soul.
Due to the warfare within us, we must learn to cooperate with the divine Trinity. The divine Trinity is the model of our Christian life. Among the divine Trinity, there is no warfare. The Father is happy to exalt the Son, the Son is very willing to subject Himself to the Father, and the Spirit is willing to testify concerning the Son. Our "human trinity" is not like this. Therefore, we need a Savior. This Savior is the divine Trinity, who has come into our spirit. After we are saved, our "human trinity" needs to follow the indwelling divine Trinity. In our salvation, we should cooperate with the Savior who is indwelling us. Eventually, our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—will glorify the divine Trinity. This cooperation with the indwelling Trinity will result in His glorification, His expression, and His manifestation.
We mainly do things through our soul. We make choices and decisions by our soul. Yet even though we make choices and decisions with our soul, we still cannot act with our soul alone. When the Son did things, He did not do them according to His own will but according to the Father’s will. In the same way, our soul should do things not according to its own will but according to the spirit’s will. This is our life after we are saved. After we were saved, the divine Trinity was added to our tripartite being. Instead of exchanging lives with the divine Trinity, we have been and are being mingled together with Him.
The Bible reveals that as Christians we have two persons: the outward man and the inward man (2 Cor. 4:16). If we were just one person, there would be no problem or struggle. But since we are now two persons, we have difficulties. The outward man is our body as its organ with our soul as its life and person. The inward man is our regenerated spirit as its life and person with our renewed soul as its organ. Because our soul is fallen, we must deny our soul. The life of the soul must be denied (Matt. 16:24-25). However, the functions of the soul—the mind, the will, and the emotion—must be renewed and uplifted by being subdued to be used by the spirit as the person of the inward man. Our soul should be submissive and obedient to the spirit, even becoming one with the spirit. Furthermore, when the divine life is imparted into our body, it becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). In this way, all three parts of our being cooperate with the indwelling divine Trinity. The Christian life is the "human trinity"—the body, the soul, and the spirit—mingled together with the divine Trinity. These two "trinities" are mingled together as one.
THE DIVINE PROVISIONS FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
The Christian life is a life of our being mingled with the divine Trinity. In our Christian life, God uses four instruments to mingle us with the divine Trinity: the divine life, the cross, the Spirit, and the Word. These are the Lord’s divine provisions. We are mingled with the Lord by His divine life, by His Spirit, by the cross of Christ, and by the Word. Therefore, we must always have fellowship with the Spirit in the divine life through the cross and through the Word. For this reason, we must join ourselves to the holy Word every day, accept the dealing of the cross, and be one with the Spirit that we may participate in the divine life.
(Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
